Republican Tom Leatherwood also won his race against Democrat Dave Cambron.

District 83

Rep. Mark White, the Republican incumbent from Memphis, won with nearly 58 percent of the vote over Democrat Danielle Schonbaum. White garnered 15,129 votes, according to unofficial totals, with Schonbaum pulling in 11,476 votes.

White captured 89 percent of the votes in the Republican primary. Schonbaum was unopposed in her primary.

Schonbaum is the director of research for the Greater Memphis Alliance for a Competitive Workforce.

White said his years of service and attempts to work across the political aisle earned him another term.

"I've been there long enough, worked hard enough that people have respected that and the vote shows," he said.

White said the race was not immune to the potential of a "blue wave" effect, and that showed with Schonbaum earning as many votes as she did, he said.

"I think that's indicative that we're really kind of living in a divided country, and that comes all the way down to the communities," White said. "Every race was tight."

White expects to chair the House education committee when the legislative session begins. He said he wants to build on the foundation of education reforms put in place by Gov. Bill Haslam.

Vaughan said he thought his reliability and service to the community endeared him to voters.

"I've been involved in this area from everything from church to youth sports to the school board to serving as the incumbent in this position," Vaughan said. "After a while, people get to where they know you and they trust you, and I think it showed tonight."

District 96

Democrat and incumbent Dwayne Thompson of Cordova beat Republican Shelby County Schools board member Scott McCormick of East Memphis with 57 percent of the vote. Thompson's vote total was 14,710 to McCormick's 10,943.

Thompson, a human resources professional, also served six years in the U.S. Army Reserve, according to his campaign website. He is a member of the house committees on consumer and human resources, insurance, and insurance and banking.

McCormick serves as the District 5 representative on the school board. He served on the Memphis City Council from 2004 to 2008.

Thompson said the key to securing his second term in Nashville was "a lot of hard work" knocking on "practically every door in the district" and a focus on health care.

"I'm definitely for Medicaid expansion and I know it's going to be a tough road, especially with the incoming governor being against it," Thompson said, referring to Republican Bill Lee, who won Tennessee's gubernatorial race Tuesday. "I'm still going to do everything I can to convince the legislature to pass Medicaid expansion."